Not music to their ears

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The Los Osos at Upland game turned into ‘Battle of the Bands’ during the first quarter. Upland boys’ Athletic Director Jim Drake complained that Los Osos was playing amplified music on their side of the field while the Highlanders were on offense. It seemed to be working because Upland had false starts on its first two plays from scrimmage.

There was a long delay as the white hat talked to the Los Osos athletic director, but I guess nothing was accomplished because the Upland drum corps began playing the drums when Los Osos was on offense, causing the offensive line to false start.

Finally, and I’ve never seen this before in 14 years covering high school football, the white hat called timeout and walked over to the stands, where he had words with the band director. The ref finally threw his hands up and walked away.

Now, about the game. Upland’s leading rusher, Tim Hanson is not playing, but it’s the Upland defense that seems to be missing. Los Osos chewed up 80 yards in four plays to start the game, even getting penalized for holding during one of the plays, and took a 7-0 lead on a 30-yard run by Arby Fields.
Upland’s got a pretty good kicker in Kyle Hughlock, but he missed a 37-yard field goal on his team’s first drive.

Upland might be finding its groove on defense. The Highlanders stopped Los Osos on its last two drives and its still 7-0 with about eight minutes left in the first half.

- Dan Arritt

-- Image from www.sau.edu